Twenty-four Giants had a built-in excuse. Ty Blach did not.
After playing past midnight in Atlanta on Thursday night (well, Friday morning), Bruce Bochy’s ballclub endured a five-hour cross-country flight back to San Francisco and didn’t land until the sun was rising.
So when San Francisco fell behind 7-1 on Friday evening against the New York Mets, it shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise that the team looked as if it was sleepwalking. For as well as ballplayers have it, that travel schedule is brutal.
But Blach didn’t land at San Francisco with the rest of his teammates on Friday morning. The Giants’ starting pitcher flew back ahead of his teammates and skipped Thursday’s series finale to rest up and take the ball against New York.
As the Giants turned their clocks back to Pacific Daylight Time, Blach helped the Mets lineup turn back the clock on Friday night, as New York did its best impression of the 1927 Yankees against him in an 11-4 drubbing.
“Sure we came in early in the morning around five but you know, it’s not the first time this has happened so you deal with it,” Bochy said. “Those guys had the night game too and it’s part of baseball and that’s no excuse. Ty flew in a day early. He was the one that got the most rest, maybe that cost him, I don’t know but you know it’s just a tough night for him and you get down that much in this ballpark, that’s tough sledding now.”
On a night when the Dodgers (49-26) took a 2.5 game lead in the National League West following their eighth straight win, the Giants (27-49) lost their 19th game in their last 24 tries, falling a season-high 22 games below .500.
Blach lasted just three innings, allowed seven runs and matched his career high by surrendering 11 hits in his third loss this month. In the top half of the second inning, Bochy nearly tapped the rookie left-hander out with reliever Cory Gearrin getting loose after six Mets hitters recorded extra base knocks, but Blach was allowed a more dignified exit as the Giants pinch hit for him before his first plate appearance in the third inning.
After giving up three hits and a run in the top of the first inning, the Giants evened the score in the bottom half of the frame on the strength of a leadoff single from center fielder Denard Span and a RBI double off from first baseman Brandon Belt. If you’re hoping to read about more Giants’ highlights, there’s always tomorrow?
When Blach returned to the mound in the second, it was as if the Mets received a wake-up call from a San Francisco foghorn, as New York’s lineup erupted to put the game out of reach.
“Might have just been a little quick timing-wise,” Blach said of his struggles. “We’re going to go back and watch a few things, I haven’t been able to do that yet, but usually when I’m leaving the ball up, it’s because I’m too quick on the backside.”
An RBI double from pitcher Seth Lugo gave the Mets a 2-1 advantage, and a three-run home run from left fielder Yoenis Cespedes ripped the early life out of a team that’s now lost 10 of its last 11 games.
“The changeup was up to the pitcher, that’s the ball, the groundball seeing-eye double he got was a changeup up and that really caused a lot of the damage and he couldn’t get out of the inning without the six spot there,” Bochy said. “With Ty, it’s location and tonight, he was just off a little bit.”
Speaking of Cespedes’ home run, you could have crossed the Bay Bridge at rush hour in a shorter time than it took the Mets’ outfielder to circle the base paths.
The Mets added a pair of insurance runs for good measure later in the inning, and when Blach finally induced a groundout in Lucas Duda’s second at-bat of the inning, the Giants had an opportunity to return to the dugout and gather their thoughts. After sitting though a seven-run eighth inning on Monday night and an eight-run fifth inning on Thursday evening in Atlanta, a six-run second inning felt less like a marathon and more like a sprint. Or just a really long jog.
By the time the Giants came to the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning, they faced a nine-run deficit that felt as hopeless as the rest of their season. But if anything positive came out of falling behind 10-1, it’s that San Francisco finally broke into New York’s bullpen, which at least makes earning a victory later on in the series look more promising.
Singles from second baseman Joe Panik and left fielder Austin Slater coupled with walks from Belt and catcher Nick Hundley allowed shortstop Brandon Crawford and right fielder Gorkys Hernandez to pad their RBI totals, and forced Mets’ manager Terry Collins out from his perch atop the first base dugout when the Giants cut the lead to 10-4.
But as starter Seth Lugo departed, reliever Paul Sewald entered, and the seagulls that swarm China Basin at the end of the night received an early call: This rally–and this game– was over. In fact, it ended a long time ago.